Day Fourteen- PacNW Tour- Bodega Bay, CA to San Francisco, CA- Del fin de la Camino!

Well, all good things must eventually come to an end, and today was it for my PacNW Bike Tour...  It's been an incredible journey all down the coast, and great to meet up with Tim and Josh for a couple of legs of ridingalong the way!

Today was a typical start, up early and on the road shortly after 7:00am.  Like yesterday, I got to sunny skies- a rarity in the morning around here during the summer, as the marine for layer tpicall comes ashore at night and hangs inland until late morning at least!  I started out riding inland toward Petaluma along CA Rt.1, then cut back over to Tomales Bay along the Point Reyes peninsula.  It looks pretty flat on the map, but it's got a lot of deceptive terrain!  None the less, it was beautiful riding through open ranch land...

Eventually, I got back to the shoreline along Tomales Bay.  This is a long tidal estuary with lots of oyster farming.  Unfortunately, it was a bit early for oysters, but still picturesque!

After nearly 25 miles along the bay, you eventually come to the land connecting Point Reyes to the mainland, and then on to a narrow strip of flat land adjacent to the Marin Headlands, and Stinson Beach.  

Here's where I met up with Josh Cousins, a colleague who also teaches at ESF back home.  He's out here doing summer research out of Berkeley, and gets a good bit of riding in too!

Josh shepherded me up and over Mt. Tamalpais, a challenging 1500' climb at 8% to 12% grade.  A great way to finish my tour! The climb switchbacks up through eucalyptus and coastal chaparral, then into ravines of redwoods on the edge of Muir Woods.  Ultimately, you teach a Ridgeline, where there can be a great view, but by this time, the marine layer had moved back inland, leaving us blanketed in clouds!  But... the descent down to Mill Valley was awesome!! Here Josh headed back toward Berkeley, and I headed further south to Sausalito and the over the Golden Gate into San Francisco!

Once over the bridge, I followed the great set of bike paths that trace the water front all the way to the ferry terminal, and settled in for a well earned lunch on the waterfront.

After lunch, it was off to Oakland and my hotel, but via BART, not on two wheels anymore!  A bit anticlimactic perhaps, but a much safer way to get to that side of the bay :-). And that about wraps it!!  I hope anyone who has followed me along has enjoyed the blog as much as I've enjoyed the journey! It's been a hell of an adventure, and I'm pleased to be no worse for wear as well...

Cheers-

Scott 

Day Thirteen - PacNW Tour- Point Arena, CA to Bodega Bay, CA

Wow... Looks like I'm into the home stretch! Today was another fantastic day - and for the first time there was no marine layer.  Bright blue skies and sunshine right from the get go ;-)

I also got my tailwind back!  It's been kind of inconsistent the last few days, but picked up pretty good out of the northwest by mid- morning.

This part of the coast is definitely getting drier than up farther to the north, with rolling grasslands often bordering the cliffs along the ocean.

There's still a few redwoods in some of the stream valleys, but now mixed with coast live oak.  Still plenty of spectacular views though!

So... I got into Bodega Bay quicker than I anticipated, and had a great lunch of fish tacos and a beer without worrying about riding along further!

Hard to believe, but after 13 days in the road, tomorrow is my last day riding. I'm hopefully meeting up with another friend, in this case s colleague from ESF who is out here for the summer. I hope to get into San Francisco by mid afternoon, and then put the wraps on what's been a great adventure! Hmmm. What next ?? :-)

Cheers!

Day Twelve - PacNW Tour- Fort Bragg, CA to Point Arena, CA

Today was probably the easiest leg of the whole trip...  Just 48 miles that I really dawdled on, taking more than 3 1/2 hours to go point to point.  But like much of this tour, it hasn't really been just about getting from point to point, but enjoying what's along the way!  Like much of the coastline around here, that was easy :-). This is an area that I've driven in a car many times, so I knew it was spectacularly scenic already; but seeing it at 12-15 mph is all that much better than 46-60 mph!  While the sun never really burned off the fog and marine layer today, it was still an idyllic ride, with beautiful vista after another.  I'll post a good number of photos, but I probably took 4-5 times as many.  

Lots of cute little historic town along here too, including my favorite- Mendocino!

Then there's more cliffs, and coves, lots with rocky crags and caves or natural arches.

Lots of old rancheros, and happy cows too!

So tonight I'm staying at a cute Airbnb in Point Arena, which is also a neat little historic town.  Geographically, this is the farthest west that you can get in the lower 48 states.  The cafe I ate at today's claim to fame was that they were the last cafe before you got to Hawaii! It is also the land terminus of the San Andreas fault... I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the "big one" holds off for a while so I can finish my ride and be a long ways away ;-)

Cheers!

Downtown Point Arena

Day Eleven - PacNW Tour- Phillipsville, CA to Fort Bragg, CA

So... Tonight I'm sitting at a table on the docks in Noyo Harbor in Fort Bragg, at a restaurant that I last visited with Norma in 1983 or 84.  I came back seeking some killer shrimp wontons, and sure enough, they still serve them! It was worth pedalling 10 days from Seattle to just for these! :-)

Today was a better ride than I expected after yesterday's 100 mile cruise inland into the heat.  I got up early to beat the temps, and while I started out at 52F at 7:15, it quickly warmed up into to the 70's. I managed to get to the Rt. 1 turnoff by 10:30, and up to the top of the climb over the coast range before 11:00, and was only about 80F.  Halfway down the other side, I needed to stop and put more layers back on!  At the coast it was back down to 58F :-)

The morning section was all along the Eel River, some on US 101, and some on the old highway. Lots of redwoods and beautiful river views. Pretty much all of it with very light traffic!

After getting back to the coast, the landscape was totally different, and just as spectacular!

This was a fantastic road to ride, and there were quite a few cyclists out today. I had lunch with 5 others riding along the coast, two from Seattle, two from the SF Bay area, and one from Germany! The German guy had ridden all the way from Atlanta! I got a lot envious looks at how light I was traveling. I only have about a dozen pounds of gear (one change of riding clothes, and one set of street clothes, + a few tools and spare tubes), but everyone else seems to be hauling everything but the kitchen sink!  They are all camping and each person looks to be carrying 50lbs+.  Makes for a lot slower going, particularly in the hills, of which there are plenty!

Tomorrow should be an easy day -at only 41 miles, the shortest of the whole trip... Sort of a rest day after the last two. So that's it for now, as I need to head back to my hotel & wash laundry ;-)

Day Ten - PacNW Tour- Trinidad, CA to Phillipsville, CA

Another outstanding day of riding, and the longest distance of any leg on the tour- 100 miles in total, including my "extra" miles back & forth to Miranda for dinner ;-). Today was a pretty diverse day of landscapes to cover, including rocky coastline at the start, then flat river delta farmland, and some broad tidal bays & estuaries near Eureka, before heading up the Eel River valley and through Humboldt Redwoods State Park and the "Avenue of the Giants."  I've ridden some of this area before when I came up here in 2019 with Carol Dyer and rode the Tour of the Unknown Coast, a very challenging ride through the redwoods and over the coast range twice. We met Tim O'Boyle on that ride, and Tim joined me today for almost the entire ride. It was great to have someone along to talk with and share lunch and coffee along the way. Thanks Tim!

As has been typical, the scenery was spectacular. First was a great set of coastline sections south of Trinidad, which I think has become my favorite northern California town.

This section even included a few nice gravel grinding segments ;-) And some interesting wildlife... Those things lying on the sand are harbor seals!

Next up was riding around the port and through downtown Eureka, a pretty cool old hatbor & lumber town, including a working harbor with fishing fleet, and some great old Victorian houses.

Then out into working farmland near Ferndale...

...and on to the Avenue of the Giants!

Riding the Avenue of the Giants is really hard to do justice with just photograph, which all begin to blend together! But what it feels like is riding for miles and miles down the nave of a huge natural version of a European cathedral like York Minster or St. Peter's basilica in Rome.  The scale and majesty of the place is just stunning...

At any rate, we finished riding in Phillipsville, where Tim's wife was generous enough to meet him to give him a ride home after 80 miles riding one-way with me from his home McKinleyville. I checked into my airbnb, and then rode 3.5 miles back to Miranda to get dinner and some groceries for breakfast-- a long, but very satisfying day! Tomorrow's ride, while about 20 miles less than today, will probably be the most challenging physically of the whole tour.  After riding inland up the Eel valley today, I'll need to climb about 2500' up and over the coast range to get back to the shoreline tomorrow morning,  and finish the day at one of my longtime favorite places along the NorCal coast- Fort Bragg.  Cheers!